The next session of the PACS CSS Workshop will be Saturday, December 20, at our usual 9 - 10 hour.
My thanks to Reed Gustow for handling last month's meeting. This month we will jump back to the topic that we started in October, using CSS to create navigation menus. In October, we talked a little bit about philosophies of navigation and interfaces in general. On that topic, members might be interested in a book from O'Reilly, Designing Web Navigation, by James Kalbach, http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596528102/index.html.
We will continue looking at the HTML behind links and then move on to the CSS that can be applied to the anchor tag. We will be on this topic in future sessions as well.
And just in time for the holidays, we have a book from O'Reilly that we will raffle: CSS: The Missing Manual, http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596526870/index.html.
Check the PACS website for details on the rest of what will be a very full day at PACS.
December 14, 2008
November 22, 2008
November 2008 Meeting Notes:
Multi-Column Layouts
The November meeting was organized and conducted by Reed Gustow. The topic was multi-column layouts with CSS. The techniques can get tricky, particularly if you want the columns to be of equal height.
Reed demonstrated some techniques found on A List Apart, a fantastic resource for web designers.
Reed provided his notes and samples, and they can be downloaded by clicking here and saving this file, and then extracting the examples.
Reed demonstrated some techniques found on A List Apart, a fantastic resource for web designers.
Reed provided his notes and samples, and they can be downloaded by clicking here and saving this file, and then extracting the examples.
November 19, 2008
CSS Book Giveaway from Sitepoint
For a limited time, Sitepoint is giving away for download a free copy of The Art & Science of CSS. We have used this book to organize a few meetings over the past couple of years. It is an intermediate level work that covers specific aspects of a web page and shows how to style each in different ways.
Sitepoint actually calls this a Twitaway, i.e., a Twitter giveaway, but it is not necessary to use Twitter to take advantage of the promotion. Full instructions and more information are at this page of the Sitepoint website.
Sitepoint actually calls this a Twitaway, i.e., a Twitter giveaway, but it is not necessary to use Twitter to take advantage of the promotion. Full instructions and more information are at this page of the Sitepoint website.
November 13, 2008
November Meeting Announcement
The next meeting of the PACS CSS Workshop will be this Saturday, November 15, at 9 - 10 am. I will be out of town, and Reed Gustow has graciously volunteered to cover this month's session.
Reed will cover multi-column layouts, emphasizing some good techniques for making equal-height columns, something that can be very tricky. It is an important topic for developing professional looking webpages that are easy to maintain, so don't miss it.
Reed will cover multi-column layouts, emphasizing some good techniques for making equal-height columns, something that can be very tricky. It is an important topic for developing professional looking webpages that are easy to maintain, so don't miss it.
September Meeting Notes
Reed Gustow, who was good enough to cover the September meeting of the CSS Workshop, sent me the examples he used for that meeting. The topic for September was advanced layout techniques, and Reed demonstrated a 3-column page format using CSS. I have uploaded a zipped folder of the examples for those who want to review their notes. Click and save this file, and extract it to retrieve the files.
October 19, 2008
October 2008 Meeting Report:
Styling Links
At our October meeting, we began a series of presentations on styling the navigation menu of a website.
Navigation can help give a site a distinctive look, one that carries over throughout the site. We discussed some of the design objectives of a navigation scheme and how the design can help or hinder the site's usebility and accessibility.
We looked at a few examples of navigation schemes using CSS (links open in new browser windows):
CSS: Pushbutton Links-Mike's Experiments
Advanced CSS Menu
Stu Nicholls | CSSplay | CSS only menus
In order to style menus, even cutting and pasting from an example, we need to understand the HTML that creates links. To that end, we began with a review of the basics of the anchor link in HTML.
We will continue on this topic in December. At the November meeting, we will have a special presentation on a topic to be announced.
Navigation can help give a site a distinctive look, one that carries over throughout the site. We discussed some of the design objectives of a navigation scheme and how the design can help or hinder the site's usebility and accessibility.
We looked at a few examples of navigation schemes using CSS (links open in new browser windows):
CSS: Pushbutton Links-Mike's Experiments
Advanced CSS Menu
Stu Nicholls | CSSplay | CSS only menus
In order to style menus, even cutting and pasting from an example, we need to understand the HTML that creates links. To that end, we began with a review of the basics of the anchor link in HTML.
We will continue on this topic in December. At the November meeting, we will have a special presentation on a topic to be announced.
October 17, 2008
October 18 Meeting Announcement
The next session of the PACS CSS Workshop will be held this Saturday, October 18, from 9 to 10 am in the Alps Room at the Giant Foods community center.
We will be starting a series of meetings on navigation. It is a topic that Web Design has covered, but as is our usual practice, we will look at the basics of styling navigation links to understand the foundations better. With that goal in mind, the October session will be about styling links, starting with HTML and working forward.
We will be starting a series of meetings on navigation. It is a topic that Web Design has covered, but as is our usual practice, we will look at the basics of styling navigation links to understand the foundations better. With that goal in mind, the October session will be about styling links, starting with HTML and working forward.
September 12, 2008
September 20 Meeting Announcement
The first session of the CSS Workshop for this year will be held on September 20. It will be at the usual 9 - 10 am time slot, but at our new location. By now you should have received a mailing from PACS to confirm that PACS is moving to the Giant Foods Community Center located on the upper floor of the store at 315 York Road, Willow Grove, PA. This location will be more convenient to get to, and all indications are that the facilities are great.
I will be away this month, but Reed Gustow has graciously agreed to lead the CSS session. Reed will talk about advanced layout techniques by demonstrating a 3-column page format using CSS. The example will be taken from Rachel Andrew's great book, "The CSS Anthology: 101 Tips, Tricks and Hacks." Here is the example online, to show where the session will be going.
Along the way, Reed will get into positioning, a topic that will help you get into some more advanced layouts using CSS.
For directions to the new meeting location, go the the PACS website.
I will be away this month, but Reed Gustow has graciously agreed to lead the CSS session. Reed will talk about advanced layout techniques by demonstrating a 3-column page format using CSS. The example will be taken from Rachel Andrew's great book, "The CSS Anthology: 101 Tips, Tricks and Hacks." Here is the example online, to show where the session will be going.
Along the way, Reed will get into positioning, a topic that will help you get into some more advanced layouts using CSS.
For directions to the new meeting location, go the the PACS website.
June 25, 2008
June Meeting Report:
The Cascade
At our June meeting, we talked about the "cascade" in cascading style sheets. We looked at the different ways of applying styles to a page and how the cascade determines which of conflicting styles is applied to an element.
We reviewed browser default styles and how a user can change those default settings. We then looked at inline, embedded, linked, and imported styles. Where styles conflict, the more specific style sheet will prevail, though the priorities can be reversed by adding "!important" to a style declaration.
I posted a test file at the Sample Pages section of the website (look at the bottom of the page). You can download a zipped folder that contains the page and three style sheets. Open the page in an editor to play with the style definitions and understand how the cascade works. For more help, try HTML Dog which has a number of tutorials.
We reviewed browser default styles and how a user can change those default settings. We then looked at inline, embedded, linked, and imported styles. Where styles conflict, the more specific style sheet will prevail, though the priorities can be reversed by adding "!important" to a style declaration.
I posted a test file at the Sample Pages section of the website (look at the bottom of the page). You can download a zipped folder that contains the page and three style sheets. Open the page in an editor to play with the style definitions and understand how the cascade works. For more help, try HTML Dog which has a number of tutorials.
June 11, 2008
June 14 Meeting Announcement
The next meeting of the PACS CSS Workshop will be held this Saturday, June 14, at 9-10 am. We are meeting on the second Saturday due to the school schedule. This meeting is the last until September.
The agenda is still being worked on. There are a couple of topics that ought to fit into the session so that we do not run over to next year.
And speaking of next year, we will have an exciting announcement, if you have not already heard, about where PACS will meet next year.
There is the usual wide range of meetings scheduled for this month, including a very timely presentation at the Web Design SIG on Microsoft's Silverlight. Check the PACS website for more information.
The agenda is still being worked on. There are a couple of topics that ought to fit into the session so that we do not run over to next year.
And speaking of next year, we will have an exciting announcement, if you have not already heard, about where PACS will meet next year.
There is the usual wide range of meetings scheduled for this month, including a very timely presentation at the Web Design SIG on Microsoft's Silverlight. Check the PACS website for more information.
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